Dampness encased the cobbled walls of the corridors below the grand castle. Moss and tendrils of earth seeped through decayed stone, none daring to sprout further into the darkened room. Beams of light slithered into select cells, bringing to light moulded hays, splintered bones feasted upon by large vermin and fuzzy pieces of bread. Within small capsules of darkness, dead eyes watched waiting for their time to come to an end. Slowly falling apart, mentally and physically, dust and emptiness followed by bone and flesh. Hollow shells waiting to leave the plains of the living.
Drip drip drip
Click click click
The clicking of Shae's heeled boots echoed rhythmically with the droplets of water falling from the ceiling. Her inky gaze danced across the hollowed flesh of the occupants in the cells, none making a move towards her, for a saviour she was not. Her tight ebony curls bounced elegantly brushing her shoulder blades.

"Evening ladies and gentlemen-" The coldness in her tone ridding the room of any form of warmth that could amount in the damp cobbled hell.

"-Which one of you would be Esther Colt?-" A choked sob echoed through the space, the source, the cell furthest from the window. A Malice grin crept onto the young woman's face, her eyes lit up with excitement as she strolled over to the cell shadows circled her feet, predatory with each step Shae took.

Her pointed nails scraped against the cold metal bars, the dull blue eyes met black another muffled sob echoed. Nails tapped on the bars, the metallic chime, a clock, ticking.

"-Now, now sweetheart, no need to cry-" The coldness replaced with a motherly warmth, Shae crouched down next to the auburn-haired woman who was weakly slumped against the wall, shaking from fear. Shae's hand reached gently into the space and rested on Esther's shoulder

"-Now my sweet, I have a teeny question for you, do you think you could answer it for me?-" Inky pools gazed into Azure, the girl nodded her head gently fear slowly slacking from her face.

"-Did you use that pretty little mouth of yours -" Nails brushed across dried cracked lips?

"-To pass on a piece of information that my king... our king would prefer others did not know-" Shae's teeth clenched the motherly softness died in mere seconds replaced with predatory hunger. Terror made its way into the young girl's face as she shrunk into the wall, her fingernails grinding into the stone. Shae grinned again and chuckled gently, hunger exploding into blood lust

"I'll take that as a yes"
Then the screaming began.

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Dagdan and Brannagh, young, deadly, violent and all in all a pair of idiots. Shae slouched into a large stone chair her back aching from her positioning yet she couldn't bring herself to shift her body as she chewed lazily on a chicken thigh, the king of Hybern's gaze scanned the room vacantly as his niece and nephew spoke in volumes, their voices like an endless grinding a sword sharpened for far too long.

"Shaera" a dull voice called to the young woman, Shae dragged her eyes away from her plate, mainly filled with carefully selected pieces of chicken, all equal in size and all equally torn apart, the bones stripped and almost gleaming on the silver platter.

"Yes, my king?" Her voice was ever sharp and ever cold, she could feel the eyes of the king's younger relatives digging into her flesh taunting her, harbouring for a sign of weakness within their commander.

"What of our allies?" The king leant forward slightly intrigued by what the dark-haired woman had to say. A knife grasped loosely in his left palm swirling daringly. Coaxing Shae to say something the ruler didn't want to hear.

"They are hesitant. Tensions have sprouted amongst them, almost as if from the shadows" Shae sent a knowing glance towards her king, whose grip tightened on the knife, Shae flickered her gaze down to her glass before grasping it gently and bringing it up to her rouge lips taking in the pungent fruity tang that twirled across her tongue settling as a soft sweetness as the back of her throat. She cleared her throat

"The high lord of the spring court grows ever restless, his long lost lover in the arms of the Night Court makes our offer the ever more tempting" Dagdan and Brannagh grinned amongst themselves as the king loosened his grip on the knife and placed it with a soft clink onto the table. A thoughtful look passed his face before he rose from his seat and gestured for Shae to walk out before him, she sent one last longing look towards the chicken before she too rose quickly downing the contents of her glass.

"Whore" Brannagh whispered her grin plastered broadly across her face. Shae glanced back at the girl briefly. She scraped her talons along the edge of the spiteful creature's mind Brannagh's nails dug into the stone her eyes wide with fear, you see Shae had a knack for getting into people's minds, shield or no shield however trained they were she could always get in, well as long as the king allowed it of course. Dagdan grabbed his sister's hand and shot Shae a look of pure hatred. Shae grinned before she scraped Brannagh's mind once before daring the girl to say anything more. Both relatives remind silent. So the dark-eyed beauty walked with the king to his chambers.

•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

Darkness shrouded the room, the breeze  hardly swayed the elaborate velvet curtains, the burgundy colour masked from the beams of moonlight. Shae lay in the large bed a thick blanket splayed over her body, her feet peeking ever so slightly from the covers. She turned her head to the side, the king of Hybern's face relaxed on the pillow beside her, his hair dishevelled across the fabric, somewhat of a Halo, yet this man was far from anything good. His slimed and slightly toned torso was exposed, free from covering, yet she dared not touch him, the thought of touching him beyond their agreement made the very acid within her stomach churn. To touch him of her own free will would be the day she'd lost all morality and sanity.

Shae turned her head away from the monster beside her, it was in moments like this she could fully indulge in her most intimate thoughts. The man beside her wasn't her king, or a king at all, just another monster with the power to claim a crown. Shae slipped from the covers and strolled to the window. Hybern lacked balconies, the people weren't given that luxury, it was an expression of freedom, and that is the very thing all people on this retched island lacked. Though most were not prisoners within a damp cell with the vermin feasting on moulded bread, the bars covering the windows acted as an eternal reminder that they all were prisoners in their own way, forever trapped in servitude.

Shae circled her palm around the bars, she dared herself to shed a tear, to break herself open fully, yet the fear took hold, she was afraid of what she'd find. The innocent lives she'd forgotten, the blackouts, the bloodshed. The way she suppressed herself, everything she'd done within flesh and bone, her pain would possibly never cease to exist and the very existence of it would slowly rip her from sanity yet she had to carry on if not for herself but for Raiden, or Jorah, or Kyra buried a long time ago yet still alive within her, she'd continue for them to keep their very memory alive. If she forgot them then they'd be forgotten. And to fall and be forgotten was the greatest failure of them all.

Shae often rambled on within her thoughts until dawn ripped across the sky in violent wisps of reds, oranges and yellows. When the stars, her only solace  faded away so did she, recoiling within a hollow husk of herself. She walked slowly back to the intricate bed where the king slept soundly. She could most definitely slaughter him at that moment, his blood would seep into the white fabrics as he choked grasping his throat and staring into his commander's eyes. A soft hum answered her murderous thoughts, the cauldron swirling in the room below her. Not threatening her with death if she carried out her violent thoughts, but almost reassuring her the time was to come. Shae respected the art of fate, complicated and never questioned. The dark-haired woman slipped under the covers and laid next to the king, resting her eyes in preparation for the day to come.

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Edited: May 11th 2022
And it begins 👏🏻
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Edited: May 11th 2022